Charles Lee MOORE, the story of a rescue.

[Christel]

The following has been submitted with the kind permission of R.G.C



Charles Lee MOORE

The story of a rescue


At dawn , on 30th April 1944 , the P51B ''Mustang'' of 380th Squadron , 343th Fighter Group , 9th US Air Force , took off their base at Staplehurst near Maidstone in Kent , England .

They are to escort a Box of B24 bombers on a bombing raid on a railway marshalling yard close to Lyon , France . One of the young pilots was unaware that this mission would be for him the longest and most dangerous of his career to date , as well as the last of the campaign for him . This is his story , a story that came to change his life and involve dozens of humble Normans who helped him without second thought as to the extreme dangers that they risked .

Flying had always been Charlie's passion . His childhood was obsessed by it . Charlie was not content to merely make aircrafts models , but worked after classes at a local aerodrome , receiving flying lessons in lieu of payment , and took off on his first flight on a WACO biplane at the age of 13 . After leaving college , he was unable to become a fighter pilot due to the requirement demanded by the USAAF of 2 years college education after graduation from high school . He therefore enlisted in the Army Air Corps and found his way as a Radio Operator in a unit conveying B24 'Liberators' to UK under Lend Lease scheme .

The Air Force was short of pilots , so the level of education required was lowered and Charlie was able to enter Air Cadets School with the sole ambition of not only passing out as a fighter pilot , but to become the best in the Air Force . Due to his immediately obvious real qualities as a pilot (''Born to fly'' according to all of his instructors , both civil and military) , he immediately passed out of flying school and entered the Air Force and won his single-engined aircraft ''wings'' in August 1943 . One of his instructors remarked at the investiture that if he didn't kill himself by taking excessive risks , he possessed all the attributes to become one of the all-time great pilots of the war .

Second Leutnant Charles L . Moore arrived Scotland by boat in December 1943 , and spent several weeks at an Air Training Base in Grimsby (England). Here , he flew little , but was taught the theory of plane identification , the ways and customs of the English , Frenchs and Europeans , as well as several briefings by Intelligence officers at the methods of avoiding capture . This did not concerned all aspects of escape , which would have been impossible , but mainly gave pilots some practical knowledge on how to react and survive in the event of parachuting in ennemy territory .

At the end of February 1944 , he was posted to 380th Squadron , 343 Fighter Group . Our single-engined flier had now become an operational fighter pilot . Hardly arrived at the Squadron , remembering the words of his instructors and telling himself ''I am here to execute flying skills at a level yet to be achieved by others'' . His various flying escapades quickly resulted in him being summarily ''grounded'' for 30 days for ''reckless flying''.

Nailed to the ground , Charlie was given the job running the Officers Mess , among other things the distribution of oranges , eggs , but above all Johnny Walker whisky . Charlie remembers this period as being among the most pleasant moments of his career in the USAF . It is indeed most frustrating for a pilot to be grounded , but this ''work'' was a most welcome consolation , and resulted in a period when oranges , eggs and whisky were hardly appearing on daily menus .

Soon Charlie set out on his first missions ,including ''dive bombing'' targets over Germany Charlie encountered heavy ''Flak'' but strangely not one ennemy fighter during his first 5 missions . Three further missions were aborted and called back due to bad weather conditions . During one of these , 11 Mustangs out of a total of 48 never made it back to Staplehurst , probably due to icing problems rendering the aircrafts uncontrollable .

Eventually , on this 30th April 1944 , Charlie's ninth mission was as escort of a ''Box'' of B24s on a bombing raid to Lyon . The Fighters and Bombers grouped at 18000 feet over Sancerre . The bombing mission over this important railway marshalling station obtained , according to fighter escort observers , excellent results , and so the planes retraced their steps homewards . However , homeward bound , they were intercepted by the german fighters of the 5/JGII ''Richtoffen'' based at Creil , who have been sent to intercept them . A dozen or so Messerschmidt ME 109s attacked the B24s over Montargis .
Now everything happened very quickly indeed . The 380 Squadron flanked the B24sto the right , slightly above in a perfect position of defense , but the Mustangs pilots only realised the presence of the Germans at the moment they opened fire . The ME 109s then regrouped for a further attack .

Over to Charlie :
''For the best of my recollection , we were all taken by surprise by the ME 109s who came out of nowhere . I chose a plane at the centre of the formation and followed it down to the ground . The German pilot was no novice , and was absolutely at one with his machine . He knew I was behind him even before I opened fire . After my burst of fire , he turned one way and another , in a manoeuvre to shake me off his tail , and hoping no doubt that I would follow suit and crash .

When he realised that I would not play his game , he made a manoeuvre that stupefied me : reducing his speed , he deployed his flaps and dropped his undercarriage , hoping I would thereby overrun him resulting in the hunter now becoming the prey . His manoeuvre could have succeeded , but by the Grace of God , I was sufficiently far enough behind him to avoid this tactic succeeding . In reality , when I saw the smoke of his exhausts , I realised that he had tried to get me to overtake him , and I managed to outwit him by ''zigzagging'' from left to right . I believe that this ''cat and mouse'' game I played saved my life . When the German pilot realised that I would not pass in front of him , he accelerated at maximum , at the same time pulling up his flaps and undercarriage . However , only one leg of the undercarriage entered the fuselage , the other remaining deployed .

Apparently , the left undercart leg had received some damage when he deployed it at high speed , or alternatively by my firing into the hydraulics . The cat and mouse game now over , he bailed out at around 1000 feet . I followed him now under his parachute , and took pictures with my wing camera . The German pilot made a sporting gesture whilst under his parachute that I shall remember to the rest of my days : He turned towards me , waved his arms and saluted . I then made tracks for England at low altitude , just above the trees , as fuel was now short and the return trip was a long one '' .

The 5/JGII Squadron lost 4 planes during this engagement : 2 Focke-Wulff 190s and 2 Messerschmidt ME109s . Only the pilots of the last 2 managed to eject over Montargis : Leutnant Lackner , commanding the 5/JGII and his wing man unteroffizier Kolmanisch , both Ritterkreuztrager of the Iron Cross . Upon his return to base , Lieutenant Lackner confided to his comrades (and confirmed by Leutnant Paul Müngersdorff to myself during a meeting with him in 1999) , the episode of the salute . He remarked upon his relief that the aircraft that had just shot him down made no effort to harm him personally . Lt Lackner was to die in aerial combat near to Beauvais in mid-May 1944 . The second ME 109 ''kill'' , that of Kolmanisch was attibuted to a Charlie's Squadron pilot, 2d Leutnant Mc Eachron.

The dogfight over Montargis had caused the Mustang of Charlie to become somewhat separated from the rest , and so he was obliged to return on his own . Around 11.30 , after 30 minutes flight , Charlie believed he was approaching Cotentin peninsula , and a small flight of aircrafts , probably fighters , to his west attracted his attention , flying in approximately the same direction , but at a much higher altitude . Keeping a careful eye on these and trying not to loose sight , Charlie looked ahead again and saw a high tension line looming up ahead . ''If I had gained a little altitude straight after having seen these pylones and cables , there would have been no problem , but those unidentified planes took all my attention and I waited a second or two too long . It was now too late to avoid the towers , and I had to made the flash decision to either fly over or under the cables''.

In a reflex that probably saved his life , Charlie choose to fly under the cables . In the course of this tactic , he was unable to avoid the radiator air intake striking the branches of a tree .

The radiator having been damaged (during the recovery of the wrecked plane in 1996 , we found the radiator pierced by a piece of branch about 1.5 inch diameter certainly cut by the propeller and which caused it to leak ). The Packard Merlin soon overheated alarmingly due to the leak of coolant . As the temperature gage passed the top limit , white smoke began to invade the cockpit . The aircraft continued on its way with normal power nevertheless , but the fumes were now so intense that it became hard to read the instruments on the dashboard . Now mindful that the Mustang would eventually catch fire before regaining England , Charlie climbed to 1000 feet , inverted the plane and bailed out .
Back at base at Staplehurst , 2d Leutnant C.L Moore was reported ''missing in action'' .

It was around midday at Ecouché (Orne , Normandy ) . The hour when folk were leaving the Sunday Mass , and recalled by Marie-Louise Chambelland-Cavallo , historian of Ecouché , who recalls :

''We had heard the DCA fire and all of us kept the remembrance of this aeroplane that flew over us so low , followed by an immense cloud of white smoke , also the sound of the stricken plane . We hurried to the bridge of the Orne close by , and with great relief witnessed the parachute opening . However , the local German garrison was immediately bustling with activity as vehicles full of soldiers made off in direction of the crash site . We were fearful that the unlucky pilot would find impossible to avoid them . We saw the plane hit the ground towards the west near Batilly at the spot known as 'Les Canards' ''.

During his descent , Charlie had observed his plane hitting the ground . Anticipating his likely reception , he tried to recall his briefings by the Intelligence Officer with regard to escape procedures . In reality , his knowledge of Northern France was confined to the fact that Abbeville was the home of a German fighter Unit that they named the 'Abbeville Guys'' , and who were feared and respected by the Allied pilots .

Landing close to the right bank of the Orne river , Normandy and its inhabitants were a completely unknown quantity to Charlie . Hardly able to catch his breath , Charlie was joined by the brothers Jacques and Michel Roger , who were on a fishing party close
to the ''Moulin de Serans'' . Jacques Roger took Charlie in tow , running upstream , trying to find a way across the Orne ,whilst brother Michel drew downstream the Germans attention , opposite direction . The escape had to be quickly achieved since the searches by the Germans intensified rapidly , closing in from all sides .

On the other side of the river , Bernard Peschet and son Françis had seen the plane crash within a few hundred yards from their farm ''La Misaudiere'' at Sevrai , and also seen the parachute descend . They approached the river which they knew well since it ran alongside their property , 500 yards away . They then saw Jacques and Charlie and showed them a way to cross the river by the ford close to the mill . They were just in time , as the Germans were only a few hundreds yards away . Incredibly , the Germans intensified their search on the right bank of the river and close to the place where the plane had crashed rather than in the direction of the farm .

Bernard and Françis Peschet take Jacques Roger and Charlie to the farm , providing him with some civilian clothing . Françis buried the pilot's leather jacket , notwithstanding his envy for the garment , as well as Charlie's .45 Colt pistol .

But Charlie cannot linger there any longer , as the searches intensified . At the end of April 1944 , the 77th Infanterie Division (LXXIV Korps) had its HQ.at Putanges , 7 miles away, and were responsible for this sector . The Germans who had fired upon this aircraft in difficulty and observed the scene that followed , send out patrols to find the pilot . As previously mentioned , they confined their searches to the right bank of the river Orne , being unaware of the ford close to the ''Moulin de Serans '' (Mill) , and therefore unaware that the pilot had been able to cross the river .

It now became imperative to get Charlie to the Resistance network and so in the escape mechanism . Jacques Roger and Félix Terrier , both members of the BOA (Bureau des Operations A ériennes) and directed by Mr Verrier of the town of Ranes , decided to take Charlie directly to Mr Verrier , but before doing so had to inform him of the situation . Charlie had also to quit the ‘Misaudiere’ farm as soon as possible . Bernard Peschet gives his bike to Charlie and , led by Felix Terrier , they cycle off to the home of two women at Saint Brice-sous-Ranes where he stayed for two days (we were unable to find those two women) . As they left ‘La Misaudiere’ , they encountered a small horse drawn farm cart coming from the direction of Ecouché .

In the cart was the young Lucienne Peschet (Mme Chombart) who does not recall who was pedaling , but remembers that he was on her father's bicycle . Charlie was also to spend several days hidden at the home of Mr and Mme Pottier .

At the beginning of May , Charlie is transferred at the house of Mr Verrier at Ranes . The clothing shop is rapidly converted to enable Charlie to hide there , but there is no means of escape should the Germans come calling . Mr Verrier feel he might be under suspicion , so to play safe and avoid undue risks , Charlie is transferred yet again , this time to the home of Mr Guillouard at Saint Martin d'Aiguillon , where he stays for a week .. Here he meets Mr Bachelier who is also a member of the BOA and on the run from the Gestapo . However , Charlie is unable to stay long , and has to find an other place to hide .

An employee of Mr Verrier , Thérèse Bourguignon , suggests that Charlie could be hiden at the family farm known as ''Les Chasnieres'' , well outside the commune of Marcei. With the agreement of her other children Pierre , Alfred , Roger , Suzanne and Gaston , the widow Eugénie Bourguignon who had raised her family single-handed accepts Charlie as ''Lodger'' , who is taken to Marcei in a Citroen ''Traction Avant'' driven by Madame Bachelier of Joue-du-plain . In order to verify that there was no patrols on the way , an other vehicle driven by Jules Christophe (also from Joué-du-Plain) led the way . It seems that the cars were checked by the Germans , who only looked at the papers of the driver ...

The morning after the transfer of Charlie , the sinister ''Bande à Jardin'' (French agents of the Gestapo for the Orne area) made a surprise visit at the Verrier shop and made a vigourous search , fortunately finding nothing . Nevertheless , Jardin's gang arrests Jacques and Michel Roger , who were then deported to Neuengamme concentration camp (Germany) . Only Michel was to return .

Charlie Moore was to arrive at Marcei the 21rst May , where Alfred Bourguignon , the second son of the family , was already hiden as he was looked for by the STO (Forced Laour Service) for the year 1943 , but , not wishing to go to Germany , had conceived of the genial idea of having a letter to his mother taken by a comrade , also requested for STO and going to Germany , who was posted in Ludenscheid , therefore 'attesting'' his presence in Germany . The strategy worked , but of course Alfred was obliged to remain hiden , like all the workers requested to work in Germany , but on the run . The letter was shown to French Gendarmes who came calling to inquire why Alfred was not on their lists , the letter convainced them that Alfred was certainly in Germany

Alfred had hidden himself in different farms . He came back to ''Les Chasnieres'' in order to hide with Charlie in a pile of faggots inside which a cavity had been arranged by Pierre and his brothers . Charlie recounts : ''Our hiding place was narrow and very low . The heat was unbearable and there was no ventilation , and I have to this day the scars caused by the branches of the faggots''.

The war had made Charlie and Alfred fugitives , and so the two young men (of much the same age) , became great friends . This was also true for the children of ''Les Chasnieres'' .

Life continued its daily course at the farm . The Normandy landings took place , entraining large troops movements , and the fightings became more and more intense as the Battle of Normandy progressed , followed by the Liberation . From time to time , the Germans called at the farm , searching for food , which was given quickly in order to get rid of them . Charlie hid himself anywhere he could find at such time , once in a grain coffer . He often passed himself off as a farm boy , or even a poacher !. One day , leaving a wood nearby , he came across two German soldiers . Not loosing his cool , he said ''bonjour'' , receiving the same reply !. Perhaps the only french word the three of them had in common

On another occasion , two Germans arrived at the farmhouse without even the dogs barking . Charlie was eating his meal at the kitchen table . The Germans took not the slightiest notice of him , being only interested in getting the food being prepared by Eugénie . Charlie , making out that he had finished his meal , got up from the table without a word and left , only drawing breath when well clear of the farmhouse !.

Feeling very unhappy from within , Charlie followed with an expert eye the many aerial combats over the plain of Argentan . It caused him much grief one day to see two P38's go down without the pilots managing to eject . Nevertheless , it was later the turn of the four German planes who had shot them down , to be in turn shot down by more Mustangs , perhaps those of Charlie's Group .

Marcei was liberated the 12th of August by the tanks of the 5th Armoured Division and the 90th Infantry Division of the 3rd US Army . It was to be sergents Walker and Gemmler of the 90th ID who came to find him at the farm . It was the general feeling that it was time as by now too many people knew his presence .

After having been thus liberated , Charlie was sent back to England where he was to stay for a couple of weeks . Before this , he came back to say his farewells to Les Chasnieres , bringing to the Bourguignon family all that he could in the way of provisions , cigarettes , etc ..., which they had lost the taste for since long ago !. He was then sent back to USA where , whilst on leave , he was involved in a serious road accident and spent some considerable time in hospital . Upon leaving hospital , he resumed his duties in the USAF and was sent in the Pacific Theatre of War . Now flying a P47 Thunderbolt , he was to participate in the battle of Okinawa in July 1945 .

Charlie was discharged from the USAF with the rank of Major . Aged to day of 84 , he has not lost any of the energy of the days of his flight from the Germans in 1944 , and remains much the same personage that he was in those far off days . He has returned in Normandy on several occasions where he was able to meet some of those who helped him in 1944 . Especially the Bourguignon family (other than Gaston who died in 1946) . His remembrances were relived with much emotion , which is understandable . We were able to show him the spot where his P51 crashed and Francis Peschet took him to the ''Gué du Moulin'' ford where he crossed the river Orne , also the farm of La Misaudiere where he was re-equipped with civilian clothings . I was also able to show him the major parts of his plane who was desinterred in 1996 and found to be in remarkable state of preservation . The Packard version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine , found at 6 metres deep , has been mounted on a specially constructed display craddle by Serge Roger , youngest brother of Jacques and Michel , now forming an important part of a project to show the aerial combats of the Battle of Normandy , with the famous radiator pierced by the branch of a tree , forming a key part of the display .

Charlie was to experience a painful reaction when we showed him the parts of his plane . This had brutally reminded him of his bitter feelings of a dream unfullfilled . However , his painful recollections were brought to a head when he came to terms with his decision that he had made an error of judgement in flying under the power cables rather than above .

Sixty years on , Charlie cannot not forget the thought that , on that day , this simple error has resulted in him being effectively ''grounded'' , whereas his country desperately needed him to be still at the controls of his Mustang . He is also very aware of the enormous risks that this error caused to be endured by those who came to his aid . He now look upon all these people as members of his family .

Many of them have made the trip to Las Vegas (Nevada) where he lives . I met him there in 1996, 1998 and 2001 . There he told me the complete story of his exploits in Normandy , which I have researched here and in Germay, and related them above . We speak regularly by phone , and I hope to see him there again soon .

Robert Chombart
Re-writen and completed
Aubry-en-Exmes , September 2003

[ovenpaa]

A remarkable story, thank you to Robert for giving permission to post this in it's entirety, I for one look forward to future posts of this type.

Thank you.

[Jenks]

Agreed a very good story, with a happy outcome. What strike me above all is the tremendous courage of the ordinary French people who were prepared to help the downed Airman. Risking almost certain death if caught...... So much for National; stereotyping.

Jenks